(Apr 16, 2010) The Bangladesh Parliament ratified the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court (ICC) on March 23, 2010, making Bangladesh the 111th state to join the ICC. Bangladesh had signed the statute in 1999, but did not immediately ratify it. To complete the ratification process, Bangladesh is required to deposit the instrument of ratification by April 2010.

The ratification will not retroactively affect alleged war crimes committed in the 1971 Liberation War, in which Bangladesh won its independence from Pakistan, but it may lead to the ICC providing technical support to Bangladesh in the upcoming judicial proceedings involving these allegations. (Ratification of Rome Statute to Make War Crimes Trial Credible, Foreign Secretary Tells UNGA President, DAILY STAR, Mar. 25, 2010, available at http://thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=131566.)

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